Nickle Lake Regional Park's modest beginnings as a rock pile down by the bay will be celebrated this weekend, as one of the park's founding fathers, Carl Goranson, returns to the prairie resort he conceived of and helped nurture by hand over 50 years ago.

Goranson will deliver the "Introduction to the Park speech" at the 50th anniversary celebration on Sunday, July 10, at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Goranson was the first to suggest plans for the park in 1951 as a director with the Saskatchewan Farmers' Union, and was on hand when the park officially opened on July 10, 1955.

Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Brenda Bakken Lackey will present a project plaque on behalf on the provincial legislature to Nickle Lake Regional Park in honour of reaching the 50-year milestone. Nickle Lake Regional Park board president Terry Benning will M.C. the event, which kicks off Sunday morning with a pancake and sausage breakfast hosted by the Nickle Lake Regional Park board of directors from 8-11 a.m.

Anniversary chair Chris Stehr hopes to see Weyburn residents out on Sunday to celebrate a local act of ingenuity, vision, and human will. The grounds that visitors will see on Sunday were moulded almost entirely by human hands, though recent changes have been made withheavy machinery.

"I think they should come out and be proud of what Weyburn's got," he said. "There's a park near Weyburn that's really nice and a lot of places just don't have that type of facility."

Besides hearing from Goranson and taking in a pancake breakfast, anniversary participants will be treated to several entertaining activities, including a fish derby for fishing enthusiasts, and escorted, comprehensive park tours between noon and 3 p.m.

Organizers have arranged for a "tour wagon" to be hooked up to a tractor and towed around the park for a chauffeured tour of the grounds, according to Stehr.

Beginning at noon, anniversary organizers will hold a series of tournament games for families including horse shoes, bean bag toss, mini golf, and beach volleyball. There will be carnival rides between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., as well as kids' games and face painting.

An unrelated softball tournament will also take place Sunday, and beer gardens will open at 10 a.m.

In addition to all the activities the day has to offer, Stehr hopes locals will come out to celebrate the park just to see all the recent improvements and renovations made to the grounds.

"People should come out due to the fact over the last few years there's been a lot of changes take place in new sites and with new washrooms. We've also added a lot of new trees and improved the beachfront area," he explained.

In May, members of the park board planted over 400 news seedlings to provide some rejuvenation to the park's foliage. The new trees will also help shelter the 55 new campsites added to the park over the past two years.

They also added several tonnes of new sand to the beach and swimming areas, and renewed the boardwalk and marina areas by replacing the old telephone poles supports with steel pipe.